L.A. Scene June 2010: NewNowNext Awards and Los Angeles Pride

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on June 30, 2010

L.A. Scene is a monthly column that chronicles lesbian nightlife and events of interest in Los Angeles. Sarah Witness, an East Coast transplant and obvious femme, has been navigating the snark infested waters of Hollywood since 2001. Although she’s an NYU trained actress, she prefers sipping vodka and making idle chit-chat at really gay nightclubs.

NewNowNext Awards

It’s not every day that you find RuPaul, Peter Gallagher and Jersey Shore‘s Snooki in the same venue. This is why I ventured downtown — a place I normally reserve for contesting parking tickets — to attend Logo’s NewNowNext Awards. The ceremony was held at the way too-cool-for-school lounge and one-time power plant The Edison. The building is 100 years old, which is unheard of for Los Angeles where newer is always better. (Think Moulin Rouge.)

The awards are perhaps the liveliest and most scattered of award shows, with honorees including everyone from totally obscure webmasters, to full-blown celebs. The hosts were Broadway darling Cheyenne Jackson and actress/hostess Niecy Nash. They opened with a bit where Niecy confuses Jackson with that other gay/singer/dancer/award show host Neil Patrick Harris, and proceeded to refer to him as Neil for the rest of the show. Apparently the bit was convincing, as I just researched the awards to make sure I had my facts straight and I see that a number of bloggers believe it was actually Harris who hosted.

I made the mistake of venturing to the bathroom just as the show began. I could have gone earlier but I was busy shoving my face with complimentary cheese and pita bread. The only way out of the bathroom was the narrow hallway leading to the stage. I was trapped there until the next commercial break, desperately trying not to step on the flowing taffeta of the drag queens on deck.

The insanely gorgeous RuPaul presented the “OMFG” award to a website called “Lesbians who look like Justin Bieber.” Need I explain?

Aisha Tyler joked about being six feet tall and frequently mistaken for a drag queen. Her height was quite apparent when Snooki joined her onstage with Johnny Weir to hear the results of the “Most Addictive Reality Star” award. Snooki literally came up to Aisha’s hip. Average-height Johnny Weirwon.

Alec Mapa passionately made out with Cheyenne before presenting Michelle Collins with the award for “Brink of Fame Comic.” (She beat out crowd favorite Liz Feldman.)

Candis Cayne presented the dubious award for “Best Future Feature; an award given to a movie that has yet to be released or even screened by the judges. Peter Gallagher accepted the award on behalf of the film Burlesque. Salt, starring Angelina Jolie was also nominated but I’m guessing she wasn’t willing to trek downtown to accept an award — not that award shows are ever rigged or anything.